


Meeting Mummy

by afteriwake



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Amused Anthea, Amused Sherlock, Anthea is the Best PA, Awkward situations, Cambridge, Confused Lestrade, Established Mycroft Holmes/Greg Lestrade, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Knew It All Along, M/M, Making Up, Meeting the Parents, Mycroft Being Mycroft, Mycroft is In Over His Head, Mycroft is a Bit Not Good, Mycroft-centric, POV Mycroft Holmes, Parental Lestrade, Poor Lestrade, Poor Mycroft, Sherlock Being Annoying, Sherlock Is A Bit Not Good, Sherlock is a Brat
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-04
Updated: 2018-02-12
Packaged: 2018-07-12 06:26:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7088923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mycroft has been trapped by his mother to introduce her to the “woman who has captured his heart” at a family dinner. What she doesn’t understand is the “woman” is not a woman so much as it’s Gregory Lestrade. But Mycroft has a plan. A plan that involves bribing his assistant with an expensive week long cruise in the Bahamas, enduring the smirks and pointed comments from his smug baby brother and the unexpected arrival of one very confused and then very amused boyfriend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [IdrisSmith](https://archiveofourown.org/users/IdrisSmith/gifts), [mellovesall](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mellovesall/gifts).



> So my very good friend **ladyemmaline** had once asked for a Mystrade fic where Mummy Holmes met Greg because, as she said, " _I have an obsession with Mummy Holmes meeting her son's significant others if you haven't guessed._ " I _just_ got around to starting it while I was in the hospital recovering from back surgery, and decided to make it multiple parts. This is also gifted to **IdrisSmith** and **mellovesall** , who had asked for Mystrade fics at different times and I had picked this fic for them.

His life was, to the unobservant eye, dull. Plain, Boring. It consisted of a tedium, of all work and no play, punctuated only by moments of extreme danger.

To say that was a falsehood was an understatement.

He’d had his fair share of days like that, he supposed. He’d spent most of his life believing that caring was a disadvantage and as such had spent little time forming attachments of a personal nature. He had one to Andrea, he supposed; he trusted her with quite a bit, but not all his secrets, not personal things that were important to him. She was his right-hand woman, but not his confidante.

For that, he turned to one person and one person only: Gregory Lestrade. He had been unsure of how the relationship had come to pass, exactly, and that was something that should have vexed him but didn’t. He had often wondered at that and then realized he didn’t care. If Gregory was his goldfish, so to speak, he didn’t want to question how it had happened. He just wanted to celebrate that it _had_.

But _him_ celebrating it and his parents celebrating his new found happiness were two entirely different matters, apparently, as he looked at the note from his mother that had come in with the afternoon mail.

_I am so pleased to see that you’ve found someone who has made you happy, Mikey. I always knew there was a woman out there who would capture your heart, just as your father captured mine. I demand to meet her. Your father and I want to invite you and the remarkable woman to our home in Cambridge next weekend. Perhaps for a family dinner at least once over the weekend? Please say you’ll come._

He tossed the note onto his desk and steepled his fingers together. This was, indeed, a conundrum. He wasn’t entirely sure of his mother or father’s attitudes towards homosexuality or bisexuality, and there was always the chance that whatever those attitudes were was on an academic or abstract level and they would be _completely_ different when forced to be applied to their own son and his choice in lovers. After all, his mother was an academic who was only a generation removed from Alan Turing; did she look on the man as a pitiable genius for who he was and the “condition” he had, and would she look on her son the same way? Even with times changing, he didn’t know.

Those were the thoughts that had kept him from telling his parents the truth about his relationship with Gregory. He was not ashamed of Gregory at all; those close to them were aware that they were dating, even those in the Yard and amongst the government. He knew it would damage their careers, but they were closer to retirement than they were anything else these days, so it truly didn’t matter. And they were more than simply lovers, as they did more than share a bed. There were genuine feelings shared between them. They went places together, did things together, integrated themselves in each others lives. Mycroft was even involved in Lestrade’s daughter’s life, and even though Eileen’s studies at university precluded her seeing him often she adored him and he, in turn, adored her as well.

To be honest, Mycroft had considered making Gregory a more permanent part of his life. And now, thanks to the intervention of his mother, he was considering hiding his love to appease them.

What a mess this was.

He sighed and ran a hand over his face just as Andrea entered his office. “Bad news?” she asked.

“I think I should put a moratorium on letters from Mummy,” he said, indicating the letter on his desk. “She is demanding to meet the woman who has captured my heart.”

Andrea raised her eyebrow. “In the entire four years you’ve been with Lestrade, you haven’t told your parents you’re in a relationship with a man?”

Mycroft had the decency to look ashamed. “I’m not sure of their attitudes towards homosexual or bisexual men, and certainly not of one of their sons being towards that persuasion.”

“You’re a coward,” Andrea said, shaking her head. “I swear, I’m half tempted to tell Lestrade he deserves better.”

“Don’t!” Mycroft said, his eyes wide and his voice panicked.

Andrea shook her head again and planted her hands on his desk, leaning forward. “What _exactly_ does your mother want from this mystery woman who has ensnared you?

“A family dinner in Cambridge,” he said.

“Isn’t that where Eileen attends uni?” Andrea asked, tilting her head slightly.

Mycroft nodded. “Yes.”

“And hasn’t she invited Lestrade up for the weekend to visit her for a family function or something?”

Mycroft lowered his head in his hands. “Yes,” he said, his voice muffled.

“Oh, you’re in for an interesting weekend then, aren’t you?” she asked with a smirk. “But I’ll help you as you have been a more than halfway decent man to work for and I think that even though this situation is rather your own damn fault I can see why it got to this point. But really, Lestrade _does_ deserve better than to be pushed aside for a fake girlfriend.”

“I know,” he said quietly. “I will make it up to him, a million times over.”

“Oh, most certainly,” Andrea said. “And me too. I deserve a vacation when this is all over. Ten days in the Bahamas.”

Mycroft looked up at her. “I can’t lose you for that long,” he replied.

“A week, then,” she said. “But immediately after the weekend at Cambridge.” Andrea reached her hand across the desk towards him. “Deal?”

Mycroft debated it in his head and then nodded, reaching over to seal their agreement with a firm handshake. “Deal,” he said. As soon as they let go and she turned away from his desk he began to plan for all the myriad things that could go wrong and then began to plan for contingency plans for _those_. If he could get through the weekend with his sanity intact, he might _actually_ start to believe in a higher power.

Possibly.


	2. Chapter 2

Gregory was packing when Mycroft came back to his home, which the two of them shared. The state of Gregory’s lodgings post his divorce had been rather bleak, and even before their relationship had become serious an invitation had been extended to share a home. As roommates, Mycroft had said, who would occasionally share a bed and a meal or two a week.

Gregory had lasted one week in a separate room. Neither of them was particularly inclined to be apart, and that was how Mycroft had realized perhaps this relationship had become more important to them than they’d realized.

Eileen had her own section of the home, complete with an art studio for her own private use, though it had been some time since she used it. Her artistic talents had rubbed off on her father, however, and part of the studio had been converted into a darkroom for Gregory’s budding photography hobby. It was while he was waiting for his lover to notice him that he looked at a rather exquisite photograph that was up on the mantle of the fireplace in their bedroom, one of the London Eye with New Year’s Eve fireworks in the background. It had been taken this last year, as they had opted not to attend a function at the Yard or any number of invitations to various governmental soirees and walk around with the hands held together, except when Gregory found a good subject for a photograph.

He knew his father would appreciate Gregory’s technical detail and eye for stunning compositions, but his father would not be meeting Gregory this weekend. Hopefully, he would, one day, but this weekend was not to be that day.

“Eileen says it’s a Parent’s Weekend. I said we should both go but her Mum is bringing her new bloke and I’m not in the mood for catty remarks,” Gregory said, his voice bringing Mycroft out of his thoughts. “Not so much from Dory. I think she’s happy you’re taking care of Eileen’s expenses, whatever they may be. More money for the baby.”

“I didn’t do it for her, I did it so that Eileen can concentrate fully on her studies without having to figure out a way to support anything else she might want to do,” Mycroft said, turning to Gregory. “Though if it keeps her off her off your back, I’ll double the amount.”

Gregory chuckled. “She still has to live on campus the rest of this year and next. Then you can indulge her in off-campus housing.”

“I still think she should be allowed to live wherever she chooses,” Mycroft said.

“But living in the dorms is part of the university experience,” Gregory said, moving away from his packing to wrap his arms around Mycroft’s waist and set his chin on his shoulder. “The real question is, how do we deal with the empty nest? She spent her gap year with us as your assistant’s assistant.”

“And she did no real work, but Jefferson had his eye on her and he’s a lecherous man. Andrea is a more suitable supervisor than Jefferson, even if Lady Smallwood would cane him to death if he laid a finger on our...I mean, your daughter.”

Gregory pressed a kiss to Mycroft’s jaw. “Come off it. Everyone knows she’s just as much your daughter now as she is mine or Dory’s. You’ve certainly rubbed off on her more than either of us ever did.”

“It wasn’t my intention,” Mycroft said.

“It’s not a bad thing, though. She’s better for it. You’ve been able to introduce her to things I never could on a copper’s salary. And now look at her! An art history major and already there are a few museums and galleries wanting to get their hands on her from all the time you let her roam free under the guise of getting to know her.”

“I was getting to know her,” Mycroft said. “I was just indulging her love of art and sculpture.”

“I just can’t believe she turned down a year in Paris to stay with us,” Gregory said.

“It shows she loves you as much as me or anything I could do for her.” Mycroft leaned his head towards Gregory. “I shall miss you both this weekend.”

“Have any plans?” Gregory asked.

“Mummy wants to see me,” Mycroft said, making sure to not indicate she wanted his presence in Cambridge as opposed to London. “Something about how Sherlock is ignoring her again and I seem...happy.”

“If that’s in any small measure on my part, then I’m glad,” Gregory said, pressing another kiss to his jaw.

“If you continue that behaviour, you may not finish packing,” Mycroft warned.

“I can finish the rest in the morning, I suppose,” Gregory said with a chuckle before changing his position and kissing Mycroft softly, then with an increasing passion as Mycroft returned the kiss. Distraction was the best idea, he supposed. Hopefully, he could pull this off with few problems...


End file.
